Sunday, January 22, 2017

My Sunday Feeling

Mr. Hamilton's firewall sprung a leak. What was widely conceived to be the unthinkable as little as a year ago has become reality. Donald Trump, the ruthless businessman, tax deadbeat, Russian sympathizer and relentless self-promoting con artist is the 45th President of the United States. I almost don't know what else to say. Except this. Every man that has stood in his shoes discovered something pretty quickly. Governance is a lot harder than campaigning. Every President struggles to turn promises made on the stump into policy. Every one. Trump will be no different. Whether he can work with the Congress remains to be seen. Here's but one example of the kind of disconnects we may safely expect going forward.The Republicans have had a bug up their patoots from jump street over the Affordable Care Act. Even though the basic framework was THEIR IDEA! And so, now that they have majorities in both chambers they are proceeding to, well, do something about it. And while this is going on Trump declares that everybody will have insurance. Which wasn't exactly on the script. Expect his underpaid press secretary to have to issue numerous "what the President meant by that" type of statements in the next 4 years.While I didn't watch the show, I did read his inaugural address. As far as I can tell, Donald Trump's America is a virtual dystopia that he promises to rescue and restore to its former greatness. I don't live in that place. There's a thing going around on Facebook that is actually instructive for once. This particular post reminds of a few facts about January 20th, the day on which Donald Trump was expressing his dark vision of reality. Gas was $2.09 a gallon. The Dow closed at 19,819. Unemployment stood at 4.7%. Mark this and mark this well. Sure, there are problems. And to give the devil his due, Trump was able to tap into a large and disaffected segment of the electorate that the Democrats foolishly took for granted. This is largely why he is the Oval One and Hillary is not. But contrary to the portrait painted in his inaugural address, referred to by the known communist George Will as the most dreadful one in history (I'm guessing history of inaugural addresses and not the history of oratory), the United States of America ain't exactly the Weimar Republic. At least not yet. And it doesn't need to rescued by a cartoon character straight out of a Nietzschean fever dream. I don't live in the place that Trump described yesterday. And as I type this women all over this country have taken to the streets in peaceful protest against the misogynist that the electoral vote has put in charge. Victory remains in love. Hope and faith may safely abide in righteous anger. That's the country I live in. God Bless the United States of America. We will get through this.I don't know what else to say.